Hush little baby
by Black Pearl
Summary: Nel had always been irresponsible, but when she becomes pregnant, even her sister Rianna has to raise an eyebrow. Yet as the strange circumstances surrounding the pregnancy come to light, they both discover things aren't always what they seem....
1. Big Problem

Disclaimer: I don't own AS or any of it's characters. Nel and her sister Rianna are mine though.  
  
A/N: This is my very first AS fan fic. Could be my last too, I'll just have to see how I feel by the end of this.  
  
  
*******************   
  
  
Big Problem  
  
  
  
*RIIIIING!!!*  
  
"Hello?"  
  
There was no response, just the sound of nervous breathing.  
  
"Hello? Who is this?" Rianna was about to hang up when she heard her sister's voice.  
  
"R-Rianna, no! Don't hang up."  
  
  
"Nel?!" Rianna exclaimed, "Where the hell have you been?! No one has seen you in two weeks! Mom's been going crazy and Dad's ready to disown you."  
  
"I...I'm sorry. I called you because I need to talk to you."  
  
Rianna sighed. It seemed every time Nel wanted to "talk to her" Rianna always ended up reaching into her purse to give her sister money.  
  
"How much do you need now?" Rianna asked tiredly, imagining how quickly and stupidly the money would be spent.  
  
"Huh? No, I *really* need to talk to you. Please, Rianna. I'm in trouble."  
  
"You're always in trouble, Nel, that's the story of your life."  
  
"No, Rianna, I'm in serious trouble. I need your help."  
  
  
Rianna was half tempted to hang up the phone, but there was a note of desperation in her younger sister's voice that she had not heard before. It hinted at a sort of terror that could have been and perhaps was legitimate.  
  
"Where are you?" Rianna asked.  
  
"I'm at Little Betty's diner...the one we used to go to."  
  
"I remember." That was all to be said on that subject. "Stay there, I'll pick you up in ten minutes."  
  
  
"See you in ten, Rianna."  
  
"Sure."  
  
It took all of Rianna's will not to slam the receiver down as hard she could. "Damn it!" she said as she rushed to get her coat. Once again she would be caught up in another one of Nel's stupid messes and she would have to get herself and her sister out intact. It was the same thing all over again.  
  
  
Or so she thought....  
  
  
*************   
  
Seven minutes had passed since she made the call, but it had already begun to seem much longer to Nel.   
  
She sat slumped in a booth near the diner's exit, leaning wearily over a cup of cheap cocoa. Her deep brown bangs fell over her eyes, giving her an almost dazed appearance. She glanced out the window compulsively, occasionally peering over her shoulder at the suspicious waitresses, who were waiting for her to at least pay for the cocoa.   
  
Nel rubbed her belly gently, pausing when she noticed the stare of a particular waitress. Smiling almost viciously, Nel turned her attention back to the passing cars outside. Someone coughed. Someone else complained about the lousy service, but nothing seemed relevant.   
  
Finally, a familiar SUV stopped in front of the diner. Nel slipped quickly out of her booth and in a matter of seconds was gone. She hadn't bothered to pay for the cocoa. It tasted like crap anyway.  
  
  
*************  
  
Despite how desperate Nel sounded on the phone, she didn't seem in that much of a hurry to talk about what kind of trouble she was in. She asked the usual questions instead. "How's Mom?" "How's Dad?" "How's Dad's new girlfriend and is she pretty?"  
  
"Everyone's fine, Nel," Rianna said, trying to withhold her impatience, "It's you that everyone's worried about, as usual. So what is it that you've gotten yourself into? Do you owe someone money or something?"  
  
"No," Nel muttered, "It doesn't have to do with money."  
  
"Really," Rianna said, looking over at Nel as she drove. "Well, what's up? I hope you aren't going to make me play a guessing game."   
  
"You might want to pull over," Nel stated quietly.  
  
Shrugging, Rianna complied.  
  
Shifting into park, Rianna waited for Nel to drop whatever bomb it was that she was harboring.  
  
  
"I'm pregnant."  
  
Silence.   
  
"I'm sorry, could you say that again?"  
  
Nel hesitated. "I'm....pregnant," she said, looking away.  
  
  
Rianna looked at her sister, straight ahead and then back at her sister. Nel's eyes glistened, waiting for the rebuke that was to come. It never did.  
  
  
Rianna did something that surprised them both. She began to laugh. The more she thought about what her sister had just told her, the harder she laughed. Tears were running down Rianna's cheeks, and she was leaning over the steering wheel, unable to compose herself.   
  
  
At the laughter Nel's eyes widened, and then narrowed in anger. "What's so damned funny?" She demanded, "Do you think this is a joke? I just told you I was pregnant and now you're laughing at me. I don't have to take this!" Nel tried to open the door to get out, but Rianna stopped her.  
  
  
"No," she said taking a deep breath, "I'm actually not laughing at you. As cruel as it may sound, I actually expected you to get knocked up way before now. You surprised me."  
  
  
"Thanks," Nel spat sarcastically.  
  
"Don't mention it," Rianna returned, "so who's the lucky father?"  
  
Nel's sarcasm gave way to a look of despair.   
  
  
"You *do* know who the father is right? Right, Nel?"  
  
  
There was no answer.  
  
  
Rianna ran a frustrated hand through her own dark brown hair.  
  
  
"Jesus Christ, Nel."  
  
  
"You shouldn't say the Lord's name in vain."  
  
  
Rianna looked sideways at her sister. "Whatever. You...have no clue who the father could be? You've been with that many-"  
  
"No," Nel said quickly, "I know who the father is, I just don't know who the father is."  
  
Rianna nodded once and then said, "Great. Now can you explain to me just how that's possible?"  
  
"What I mean is, I know who it was that would have caused me to become pregnant, since that's the only time I've ever not used...well, I know it had to have been that time, a few weeks ago, with this guy I met."  
  
  
"And let me guess," Rianna said, reaching into her purse for a cigarette, "You had just met this guy, probably at a bar or a party-"   
  
  
"Party," Nel admitted quietly.  
  
"Figures. Anyway, you hook up with this strange and mysterious guy, go off some place, have sex and the next morning, he doesn't leave you so much as a romantic note. Am I close?"  
  
  
"Pretty close," Nel admitted, "Except, since that night...."  
  
  
"What?"  
  
  
Nel looked cautiously at Rianna, but decided not to mention it, at least then and there.  
  
  
"Nothing. Look, can I stay with you? Just for a few days, until I can find a place to live?"  
  
"Sure, no problem." Rianna didn't sound enthusiatic, but that hardly mattered to Nel. She really wanted to tell her what exactly was happening and why she went missing for two weeks, but she knew Rianna wouldn't believe her, especially about the baby. Especially the part about the baby who refuses to die.   
  
  
A/N: I'll get more detailed and you find out who the father is next chapter, if anyone wants to read that far. BP 


	2. When dreams and reality blend

A/N: Thanks for my review. I actually didn't think I'd get any, and sorry I took so long. I was momentarily preoccupied. I'll start leaving hints in this chapter. ;)   
  
  
  
When dreams and reality blend   
  
  
"Do you remember anything? Anything about the man at all?"   
  
Rianna was relying too heavily on coffee to remove the fog from Nel's weary mind. Not that it would do any good, even if Nel weren't already sober.   
  
Nel mused over her fresh cup of coffee in disinterest. Rianna was growing frustrated. Did Nel even _care_ that she would one day have to tell the child where it came from? The question spawned a second.   
  
"Nel. I know shouldn't ask this but-"   
  
"Then why ask?"   
  
"...I...you haven't considered...you know..."   
  
"Having an abortion?"   
  
"I'm not suggesting it, I was just-"   
  
"No."   
  
The word was as final as it was a lie. Nevertheless, the subject was dead, at least for the time being.   
  
"Getting back to the mystery man," Rianna said, trying to mask her discontentment.   
  
"I really don't remember anything about him," Nel said scratching her head. Rianna was going to comment, but then Nel added, "except..."   
  
_Dance with me....._   
  
"Except what?" Rianna pressed.   
  
Nel wasn't listening.   
  
Images faded in and out of her mind. One moment, she had been sitting with her sister. The next, she was walking. Being led by a stranger, who's face she still could not see.   
  
_"Where are we going?" She had asked.   
  
The man only smiled back at her. Even in the dark he was beautiful. Yet, the smile....there was something there that she didn't like. He had asked her to dance with him. But what else had he said?_   
  
"**Nel!!!**"   
  
The slamming of Rianna's fist down on the table was enough to snap back to reality.   
  
"Yeah, what?" Nel asked in annoyance.   
  
"Yeah what?" Rianna repeated in greater annoyance. "You're **zoning** out on me. I asked you if you've seen a doctor. That's not a do-it-yourself kit your carrying."   
  
"I've seen a doctor or two," Nel sighed, "could we give it a rest for awhile...I want to talk about something else."   
  
Shrugging, Rianna complied. "So....stolen anything lately?"   
  
*******************   
  
Nel laid in what was now her bed pouting. She had taken $200 dollars out of her father's wallet once and now she would be known as a thief for the rest of her meager little existance. The question had spawned an arguement that could have wakened the dead, and now here she sat. Dejected and alone.   
  
Sighing, Nel laid back on the bed. She pu a hand to her belly, her thoughts turning towards things she didn't want to consider, not now. Now she was getting sleepy. And she wouldn't be able to defend herself when he came again....   
  
***********(Dream sequence)   
  
_**Come with me...**   
  
Nel shook her head furiously, but followed. Her body didn't belong to herself, not anymore. There was nothing but the two of them, and the surrounding darkness. He was all that she could see, and yet she didn't want to be near him. Why, she didn't know.   
  
He now held her hand. Firmly, but not hard enough to cause too much discomfort. But that hand would constrict painfully around her delicate wrist if she resisted. And again, still as musically as before, he would bid her to come with him.   
  
"Where are we going?" she would ask, "Please....I want to go now."   
  
He wouldn't let her go. He would only shake his head slightly, and smile. She was afraid of that smile. It was a smile that did not comfort. It signalled an impending doom.   
  
He led her to a door.   
  
"N-No. Where are you-"   
  
The man pulled Nel through the door. It shut behind them...   
  
_ ************* (End Dream sequence)   
  
Nel awoke, a strangled scream caught in her throat. She reached for the lamp to turn it on. She paused mid motion, remembering that she had fallen asleep without turning it off.   
  
Nel went ahead and turned on the light, fearing that her heart would stop if some unnatural horror would have reveal itself.   
  
She had been beneath the sheets. And yet, on the opposite side of the bed, there was an impression, as if someone had been sitting there.   
  
"Get a grip," she ordered herself. It was Rianna's apartment wasn't it? Maybe Rianna had come in, looked in on her for a bit and then turned off the light. Simple.   
  
Nel was ready to laugh off her ridulous notions, until she remembered that she'd locked the door.   
  
Moaning into her hands, Nel grudgingly got out of bed.   
  
"No use sleeping when your suffering from paranoia." Nel muttered.   
  
Truth be told, Nel couldn't face what was happening.   
  
She couldn't explain the dreams, the voice, nor the fact that after two abortions and a fall down a long flight of stairs, how it was that she was still pregnant. There wasn't a scratch on her either. Not so much as a bruise. This was not normal.   
  
Nel was now planted in front of her sister's television. She had it to herself, and had taken it upon herself to be surrounded with all the junkfood that there was in the house. Pregnant women need nurishment too after all.   
  
*Click*  
  
"Boring..."  
  
*Click*  
  
"Seen it..."  
  
*Click*  
  
"Yuck!"  
  
Eventually, she found herself watching a documentary on abortions. Laughing out loud at the irony, Nel decided to watch it. Perhaps in doing so she'd learn where she went wrong.   
  
The documentary had been on for fifteen minutes, and was now nearing the interesting part: How abortions were done.   
  
Nel and her bowl of popcorn were not prepared for what happened next.   
  
The T.V. shook and then settled, as if it had been hit. Nel stomped on the floor angriliy. It was probably some idiot in the apartment below causing it.   
  
Again, the T.V shook. It had been large enough to be placed on the ground, and the fact that it was shaking now had to mean the people in the apartment below were doing it, at least in Nel's mind. Nel stomped a little harder.   
  
"Stop it you assholes!" She shouted, "I'm watching something educational up here!"   
  
  
The T.V turned over, forcefully. Nel screamed as the only light in the room went out. Popcorn flew into darkness. Nel fell back against the couch, well aware that she was not alone.   
  
  
*************   
  
Hmm, I guess those hints weren't good enough huh? I'll try to do better with the next chapter ^_^. 


End file.
